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As modern technology continues to try to bring more conveniences to everyday individuals, pieces of workout equipment like ab machines are some of the first places to see the effects. However, when a number of pieces of technology hit the market, it can be difficult to tell the difference between a good new piece of equipment and one that does not help you achieve the body changes you were hoping to experience.

Ab Machines

With ab machines, new equipment is designed to take a lot of the aches and pains from the workout. Often, however, when the inconvenience of a workout is taken away, it comes at the expense of benefits.

For example, there is an ab machine known as the Ab Toner that is not a piece of workout equipment at all. Rather, it looks like a fanny pack and uses little tiny bolts of electricity to try to spurt muscle growth.

No one knows for sure if the machine works. What is known, however, is that it will not be able to bring you the amount of ab muscle growth that you are likely hoping for with your workouts. Thus if you bought an ab toner in order to not have to go through the inconvenience of ab workouts, you are likely getting some sort of results but not necessarily the results you were looking for.

Other Ab Machines

One well known ab machine is the ab chair. It is designed like a lounge chair and is supposed to help keep your back and neck from aching so you can focus solely on your abs. These machines are not ineffective, but to see good results you need to put a lot of work into your workouts.

Torso tracks and ab rollers are another type of ab machine. The logic in these are fairly sound - work your abs by rolling away from you and using your abdominal muscles to help you back up. In general, these machines also work well, but they, too, take a lot of extra time.

The Best Ab Machine

If you are interested in learning which ab machine has the best results, the answer is somewhat surprising. It is not one of these complicated machines, but the exercise ball that works the best towards ensuring you get a complete workout.

With the exercise ball, you can work various abdominal muscles that you normally do not work as hard, simply by performing the same crunches you do on the ground. The only difference is that you roll with the ball and try to balance yourself rather than lying on the floor.

Exercise balls work considerably more muscles than standard crunches alone. They are also far more effective than many of the abdominal machines that you see on late night infomercials.

While most machines designed to strengthen and tone your abs have some degree of effectiveness and are often more convenient than standard crunches, it may take more work to get yourself the same results. But for many people the lack of aches and pains are a good enough reason to switch to an ab machine, because you cannot grow muscles if you hurt too much to do the exercise.

Resources: Richard Black helps people learn about the ab lounger at his website about the ab lounger.